you can be sure that whoever brings the sinner back from wandering will save that person from death and bring about the forgiveness of many sins.
Parallel translations
- WEB let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.
- KJV Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.
- BSB consider this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and cover over a multitude of sins.
- NKJV let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.
- NASB let him know that the one who has turned a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Whoever turns a sinner from his wandering saves a soul from death and covers a multitude of sins. Restoring the straying has eternal significance.
Overview
James ends by declaring the great worth of restoring a wanderer: it rescues a soul from death and results in the covering of many sins. The forgiveness in view is ultimately God's, secured through Christ, whose atoning work covers sin. The closing exhortation urges the church to take seriously the eternal stakes of pursuing and reclaiming those who stray.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- 1 Pet 4:8And above all things be earnest in your love among yourselves, for love covers a multitude of sins.
- Prov 10:12Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all wrongs.
- 1 Tim 4:16Pay attention to yourself, and to your teaching. Continue in these things, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you.
- Prov 11:30The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life. He who is wise wins souls.
- Jas 5:19Brothers, if any among you wanders from the truth and someone turns him back,
- Rom 11:14if by any means I may provoke to jealousy those who are my flesh, and may save some of them.
- 1 Cor 9:22To the weak I became as weak, that I might gain the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I may by all means save some.
- Jas 1:15Then the lust, when it has conceived, bears sin; and the sin, when it is full grown, produces death.
- Prov 11:4Riches don’t profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death.
- Ps 32:1By David. A contemplative psalm. Blessed is he whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
- John 5:24“Most certainly I tell you, he who hears my word, and believes him who sent me, has eternal life, and doesn’t come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.
- Prov 10:2Treasures of wickedness profit nothing, but righteousness delivers from death.
- Phlm 1:19I, Paul, write this with my own hand: I will repay it (not to mention to you that you owe to me even your own self besides).
- Rev 20:6Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over these, the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and will reign with him one thousand years.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
The wisdom from above and the royal law of love are the life of those who belong to 'our glorious Lord Jesus Christ' — faith in him made visible in works.
How James 5:20 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.